Hi everyone. I'll try to be short and useful. Hope to get some answers too. The system was updated yesterday, but the issues are there since months.

First - the livecd is unusable for people with USB keyboards. It's probably a debian issue. There's probably a better place to report this issue, but i'm not that savy.

If I install an app, I'm told it'll use x MB of space - while removing the same app only frees up a few bytes... does autoremove, autoclean or some other command handle the rest for me ? Is there a way, to get back the lost space...
...but rather, the lost performance, without a clean reinstall ? In windows that used to do miracles, but I hope there's a smarter way here. Any tips please on how to revive this box ?

XFCE failed to start once, and since then I have no notification area - for i get an error saying i already have one when i try to add it to the panel.
the "mixer plugin" doesn't seem to care if it's at 100 % or 0, everything sounds the same. Yet, gxine controls the master volume perfectly. - instead of it's own..

My session is restored every time I log in - even though at shutdown i unchecked. In sessions and startup - session tab - i can't change the restart type. I once switched to my local language, and since - I can't go back to english...

Question - how safe is it to remove those kernels and why isn't that done automatically ?... or what should I be waiting for ?

Linux is great. It's free. It's customizable, extendable, open, ...great. I'm actually running on a computer that has some sort of ACPI malfunction... so windows won't even install on it. But aptosid runs even so... well, I can't hibernate and such but it doesn't matter. (Thought I share that with you - hope no one will fix this... lol - there are distros that stumble over this issue). So, I was saying, I'm really into linux, and aptosid prides itself with staying on edge, yet linux somehow always lags in something small. Like, why aren't the new themes, walls, etc in the proper places ? It's not just a script missing here and there, someone really should polish the interface and at least get rid of a few "idle" pixels and consider interface-ergonomics... or there's the system log viewer - that seems to have everything it needs - but you can't stop things from scrolling/updating. At least I couldn't. Somehow it's always just a little missing... A file manager without search... Tux commander wouldn't import file associations from the system, expecting me to go about each and every filetype manually ??? Neither Squeeze nor Xarchiver (I'm not sure which came with the system by default) was able to create an archive of a folder.

Can I have a third user, like root, mrx and... mry ? If so, where do i create this user ? command line ?

My hard drive switched back to PIO yesterday.. might be failing. Can anyone recommend an app for testing under linux ? Thanks.

redsid

Post subject:Posted: 24.05.2011, 02:08

Joined: 2011-02-08
Posts: 32
Location: Lake Otsego
Status: Offline

I don't post much since most other posters, like yourself, scare me! I will go no further than your usb keyboard comment. Think about the legions of usb keyboards using the live cd without a problem.
The people of aptosid have made up an excellent manual. May I suggest you read and absorb it's contents to the best of your ability. Perhaps then you may be able to find most of the answers to your
questions on your own with a feeling of self satisfaction.
Since you seem to know very little about linux, I personally don't recommend aptosid as a starting OS. Of course if someoneelse wishes to indulge you, so be it! Good luck!

aptopassion

Post subject:Posted: 24.05.2011, 12:31

Joined: 2011-05-23
Posts: 14

Status: Offline

I don't know what to say. I expected a RTFM, but rather hoped for a link or two. A keyword or something... anything that looks like an answer that gets me going.

Questions are stupid by nature... i had no idea this is just a a4tech keyboard issue. it still needs to be tracked and fixed. I bet reading the manual won't help me there.

Maybe it would have taken you less time to write something useful. Like, yes, autoremove does get rid of the rest. Or no, lookup some program, or here's a command you might want to look into. Or i don't know, hold down scroll in order to stop that log viewer for scrolling. 10 useful words.

This might not be a starting OS, but it's still linux. I'm using it, it's just that there are some small things, I can't handle yet..

If I install an app, I'm told it'll use x MB of
space - while removing the same app only frees up a few bytes... does
autoremove, autoclean or some other command handle the rest for me ?
Is there a way, to get back the lost space... ...but rather, the lost
performance, without a clean reinstall ? In windows that used to do
miracles, but I hope there's a smarter way here. Any tips please on
how to revive this box ?

First, I don't think you will gain any performance whatsoever. I
heard, a long time ago (don't even remember the source, so I cannot
vouch for its reliability), that some of the "auto" stuff can damage
your system. I would suggest forgetting about these few mega bytes.

It's likely due to the package bringing dependencies, which are not
removed with the package, since other packages might still need them.

aptopassion wrote:

Question - how safe is it to remove those
kernels and why isn't that done automatically ?... or what should I be
waiting for ?

It's good to keep a few old kernels so that if a new kernel breaks
something in your system you can still fall back on an old one. (And
that's why is it not automatically removed.)

You can install the packager kernel-remover (and then run
kernel-remover) to get rid of some old ones. (But keep some!)

aptopassion wrote:

Like, why aren't the new themes, walls, etc in the proper places ?

Like where??? I don't use XFCE, but in KDE you can find them easily
(with System Settings).

aptopassion wrote:

It's not just a script missing here and there, someone really should
polish the interface and at least get rid of a few "idle" pixels and
consider interface-ergonomics...

I don't know what you mean...

aptopassion wrote:

or there's the system log viewer - that seems to
have everything it needs - but you can't stop things from
scrolling/updating. At least I couldn't.

Which log viewer? Did you use the command line? Not enough
information to help.

aptopassion wrote:

Somehow it's always just a little missing... A
file manager without search...

Which one? Dolphin (from KDE) has it...

aptopassion wrote:

Can I have a third user, like root, mrx and... mry ? If so, where do i
create this user ? command line ?

There might be GUIs, but you can do it with CLI with "adduser".

I am not familiar with many of the applications you've mentioned, so I
can't help.

First - the livecd is unusable for people with USB keyboards. It's probably a debian issue. There's probably a better place to report this issue, but i'm not that savy.

Sorry, but that's nonsense. I (and many others) am running USB-Keyboards since years with several distributions, without any problems. It might be some kind of hardware issue of yours.

All your other complaints/questions... you really should split them and open a new thread for every one in the proper forumsections.

And please follow the advice from redsid to read the really fine manual. I'm sure, many of your questions will be answered in there.

Cheers

_________________i don't have hard drives. i just keep 30 chinese teenagers in my basement and force them to memorize numbers (bash.org)

aptopassion

Post subject:Posted: 24.05.2011, 17:40

Joined: 2011-05-23
Posts: 14

Status: Offline

About the keyboard - it's not a custom one of a kind in the entire world keyboard. If I have this issue, others with this kb will have the same issue. it's a4tech kls5. If my graphic card weren't supported, wouldn't that be fixed ? So what's wrong with reporting a keyboard ?

Log Viewer 2.30.0 - a default log viewer on my sys.

I managed to get some wallpapers, using the command line. I have no idea why synaptic wasn't able to do the same trick. MAYBE - I installed the kde versions... no idea.

About auto-something.. damaging my system. Maybe it has. I installed the xfce-mixer today, despite the fact that i thought it was already there... just to see what happens, maybe i can fix the volume issue. I couldn't fix that, but now XFCE looks diferent. I thought I already upgraded my system yesterday. Makes no sense. But i have my systray back. And everything runs smoother.

File manager: thunar... it doesn't matter. It was just a list - I often run into just a little bit missing. About the interface - some themes make miracles.

Thanks for the info.

I'll try to search for tips on making the system more responsive/efficient. I can live with the rest - till I thinker things out. It's not just a manual reading issue unfortunately. Yes, the manual helped me with adduser indeed. I'll keep reading. But nowhere in the manual do i read why xfce4 mixer plugin won't handle volume...

ayla

Post subject:Posted: 24.05.2011, 18:07

Joined: 2010-09-11
Posts: 50
Location: Germany
Status: Offline

because of synaptic...

may be you want to read chapter "The Reasons NOT to use anything else but apt-get for a dist-upgrade" (and installing/removing)
in Apt Cookbook and sources List

greets
ayla

ikeinthai

Post subject: dear Enzo. Posted: 26.05.2011, 02:44

Joined: 2010-09-22
Posts: 119
Location: bigannastybkk
Status: Offline

dear Mr. Enzo Ferrari, i'm sorry but this car you built is no damn good!

i put in the diesel fuel, just like my Ford tractor, and the stupid thing just dies.

i know you gave it to me for free, but i want to complain and get my money back.

I understand. Wait... no, I don't. Why is synaptic, or anything else that doesn't work with aptosid available in the repos ? Rhetorical question.

I thought Synaptic was a front-end for apt-get... but thanks for the link ayla. It seems there's much more to linux than meets the eye.

And please, no. I'm NOT complaining. I'm just sharing. Don't read into it. Saying that I constantly bump into a missing feature is reporting my experience as a user. Complaint would be me getting emotional about it. Just because I summed it up quickly and didn't open a threat for each issue, doesn't mean I'm ranting. I know you guys have better things to do than deal with newbies. Yet, when I feel like i run out of options, please do allow me to take advantage of the forum: some of you experts here might need 10 seconds to put the finger on the right spot. I'm trying to learn - and the manual is simply not a magical answer book.

No need to complain about me complaining...

ayla

Post subject:Posted: 26.05.2011, 05:15

Joined: 2010-09-11
Posts: 50
Location: Germany
Status: Offline

The repository aptosid is build of is debian sid. And this is the (main) repository you have in your sources.list. Beside there is an aptosid.list which will provide fixes if necessary.
That means: Not evrything which is in debian sid automatically needs to work propper for aptosid. The very most will do, but there are some differences between stable and rolling releases.
And as synaptic works great on stable releases it might break a rolling one from time to time (as explained in the manual). That does not mean synaptic isn't working at all.

greets
ayla

of curse the aptosid repo provides a few other things too as there are the aptosid kernel, artworks....

aptopassion

Post subject:Posted: 26.05.2011, 08:06

Joined: 2011-05-23
Posts: 14

Status: Offline

ayla wrote:

The repository aptosid is build of is debian sid. And this is the (main) repository you have in your sources.list.

Knew that.

Quote:

Beside there is an aptosid.list which will provide fixes if necessary.
That means: Not evrything which is in debian sid automatically needs to work propper for aptosid. The very most will do, but there are some differences between stable and rolling releases.
And as synaptic works great on stable releases it might break a rolling one from time to time (as explained in the manual). That does not mean synaptic isn't working at all.

greets
ayla

of curse the aptosid repo provides a few other things too as there are the aptosid kernel, artworks....

So, synaptic doesn't take the aptosid.list into account or what? Where does the thing break ? I never said synaptic isn't working... but yet again, this seems to confirm what i was saying: It works, but some little thing's missing.

If this was a stupid question, leave it - I'll research into it later.

Thank you !

ayla

Post subject:Posted: 26.05.2011, 16:10

Joined: 2010-09-11
Posts: 50
Location: Germany
Status: Offline

Why exactly it may break I can't answer and synaptic uses every list of course you tell it to use.

I would not say it misses someting, it just is designed to work well for stable releases -AFAIK.

But a hint for your research:
You may like to have a look especially at the posts of DonKult.
He is one of the developers of apt since a few years and has often answered questions here like apt:aptitude/apt:synaptic.

greets ayla

dpt

Post subject:Posted: 28.05.2011, 18:35

Joined: 2010-09-11
Posts: 281
Location: New Delhi
Status: Offline

Unless the machine is real ancient, why can not one use the regular KDE-64 bit?
I do not find anything missing, and dolphin seems to be a good enough file manager.

_________________In a lunatic asylum, everyone thinks that he is the doctor.